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11 January 2021 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
Vincent Clarke
Dr Ralph Clark

The Afromontane Research Unit (ARU), the flagship research group of the University of the Free State (UFS) Qwaqwa Campus, has recently been granted R8,4 million to establish a Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre programme.

The Risk and Vulnerability Science Centre (RVSC) programme was established by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) as part of the Global Change Research Plan for South Africa and is funded by the DSI through the National Research Foundation (NRF). The RVSC will focus on the need to generate and disseminate knowledge about risk and vulnerability on global change challenges faced by local policy makers/ governance structures and communities in South Africa.

Invited to participate  

Dr Ralph Clark, Director of the ARU, says the UFS, together with the University of Zululand and the Sol Plaatje University, has been invited to participate in Phase 2 of the RVSC programme. Dr Clark was approached by the DSI (on referral from the South African Environmental Observation Network – SAEON) in February 2020 regarding the potential for establishing a RVSC at the UFS Qwaqwa campus.

Subsequent interactions were held between the UFS and DSI, and in March 2020, the UFS formally accepted the DSI invitation. It has since been agreed that the RVSC: UFS will be hosted as a RVSC under the ARU umbrella, with dedicated personnel embedded at the UFS in this regard (internal processes and reporting) but reporting directly to the NRF regarding the RVSC.

Interest and support welcomed

Dr Clark welcomed this interest and support from the DSI-NRF, saying that the funds will further assist the UFS in growing its excellent and growing research portfolio and building more research capacity on this traditionally undergraduate-focused campus. “The RVSC will contribute to much-needed solutions in an area marked by major sustainability challenges and will assist in moving Phuthaditjhaba away from its negative apartheid history towards becoming a sustainable African mountain city,” says Dr Clark.

News Archive

Counterfeit HIV / AIDS drugs must be dealt with
2006-02-16

Some of the guests attending the lecture were from the left Prof Johan Henning (Dean:  UFS Faculty of Law), Dr Jayasuriya, Prof Voet du Plessis (Head: UFS Department of Mercantile Law) and Dr Ezekiel Moraka (Vice-Rector:  Student Affairs at the UFS).
Photo: Stephen Collett

Counterfeit HIV / AIDS drugs must be dealt with

An international legal expert who has worked with various UN agencies has called on governments to deal quickly and decisively with people dealing in counterfeit HIV / AIDS drugs.

The Vice-President of the Global Jurists Foundation and former head of the UNAIDS secretariat in Pakistan, Dr Dayanath Jayasuriya, was speaking at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.

Delivering a guest lecture on HIV/ AIDS and human rights in developing countries, Dr Jayasuriya said counterfeit drugs were spreading at an alarming rate throughout the world.  He said that in particular counterfeit HIV / AIDS drugs contribute to the vulnerability of persons living with HIV / AIDS.

“Only a few countries have integrated anti-counterfeit drug provisions into national legislation on medicinal drugs” he said.
According to Dr Jayasuriya, the violation of the rights of people living with HIV / AIDS is continuing despite the fact that many governments have adopted various charters and declarations that are meant to guarantee the human rights of citizens.

He said these violations have included the brutal murder of persons with HIV / AIDS.

Other violations include verbal abuse and physical injuries through acts of torture; deprivation or denial of access to employment; medical facilities, including drugs; accommodation; food; social service benefits; insurance; custody of children, and so on.

“In recorded human history HIV / AIDS is by no means the first ever major public health epidemic to confront human kind. However, none of the other epidemics generated the same degree and intensity of human rights concerns,” Dr Jayasuriya said.

 

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